Brief biography of Siddiq Hassan Khan (rahimahullaah)

Brief biography of Siddiq Hassan Khan (rahimahullaah)

Shaykh Siddīq Hassan Khan رحمه الله explained the book Ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah in his book ar-Rawdatun Nadiyyah.

His name is Siddīq bin Hasan bin ‘Ali al-Husaynee al-Qannoojee al-Bukharee. His kunya is Abu Tayyib. His lineage goes back to Hussayn ibn Fatima bint Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم . His noble family is from the tribes of the Arabs and they migrated towards Bukharaa and then proceeded towards India, where they settled in a place called Qannooj hence his name al-Qannoojee. He was from a well-known family with knowledge, and beauty in their bodies as well as their Aqeedah.

Although he was a Salafi scholar his grandfather was a Raafidee who used to consider some of the sahaabah to be disbelievers and he was against the fact that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar رضى الله عنهما were worthy of Khilafaah. The father of Siddīq Hassan Khan was a Salafi by Allaahسبحانه و تعالى granting him success. He studied under Salafi scholars and changed his way of thinking, even though his father was a Raafidee. This is the importance of ensuring that your children learn from teachers whose Aqeedah is pure, even if they are being taught in English.

Some of his teachers were Shaykh Muhammad Noor and he went to Dilhee and learnt from Shaykh Abdul Azeez. He also learnt from ad-Dahlawee. When the banner of jihad was raised when India fought against the British, he participated along with Sai’d Ahmad and Sai’d Ismaeel. His father was a man of righteousness and he refused to take from the great amount of wealth that his Rafidee father left him.

Shaykh Siddīq Hassan Khan was born in a place called Baas Barailee, about 122 miles to the North of Dilhee. This is where his maternal grandfather used to live. He was born on 19, Jumada al-Uula, 1248H. After that his mother brought him to Qannooj where his father was. At age 6 his father died and he became an orphan. When the children of the scholars are orphaned Allaah سبحانه و تعالى gives them a lot of strength and they are able to achieve much. His mother looked after him after the death of his father.

At an early age he began to learn Arabic. His father left him a large library. When the cleaners were cleaning the library and a book fell he would go and take it up and browse through it and read it and understand what he could, even though he was quite young. He started studying from the scholars of al-Qannooj and after that he moved on to try and acquire knowledge from more scholars. This great imaam learnt from many scholars. He started by studying the Hanafi fiqh, then the Ashariyyah aqeedah then Allaah سبحانه و تعالى guided him to learn from the Salafi scholars the aqeedah as-salafiyyah e.g. the al-Qaadi Husayn Ibn Muhsin al-Ansaari al-Yamaani and Mu’ammar ibn Fadl-lillaah a muhaddith and his imaam Khairuddeen Allalusi and others. He benefited from them greatly, and he was upon salafiyyah as they were.

After studying with these shuyuuk he had to leave the area because of the problems occurring in his country. He migrated to the Kingdom of Bhopal. There were scholars there and he found a job. He was then promoted and because of his noble character and knowledge the Director of the area asked the Shaykh to marry his daughter – Zakiyyah. He had two children with her – Noor al Hassan and Sai’d al Hassan.

He then made Hajj in 1285H and then passed by Hudaydah in Yemen and there he stayed some days and asked for the books of Imaam ash-Shawkaani the likes of Nayl al-Awtaar, Fath al-Qadeerand others and he wrote a copy of those books for himself by hand. When he returned to his people he compiled the books and began to teach the people and was promoted to the Minister responsible for affairs of Education. He found this a blessing from Allaah and an important duty to teach the aqeedah of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah.

When the queen of that area died she was succeeded by her daughter. As problems heightened in the country the new queen needed someone to help her govern the country and could not find anyone more suitable than Siddīq Hassan Khan. She went to him personally and asked him to marry her, and thus he became the Amīr of that area, due to his marriage to the queen. This gave him a greater opportunity to spread the Da’wah. His life was long as is his biography. He used his position as Amīr to spread the Da’wah – many books were published and printed and schools were opened to teach the Sunnah and Hadith. In a brief time this area in India became an example to follow in establishing the Aqeedah as-Salafiyyah of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah.

His da’wah included the writing of many books dedicated to guiding and rectifying the people. By the blessing and virtue of Allaah سبحانه و تعالى many ‘Ulamaa came to that area as he was very kind and had a lot of wealth that he used to spread the Da’wah. During that time he published Fath al-Baari the explanation of Sahih al-Bukharee, and sent it to many places of the world including Algeria and Morocco, where it was distributed free of charge to the people. He authored many books, amongst them: ad-Deenul Khaalis, Fathul Allaam – the explanation of Bulooghil Maraamand many more. He is from the People of Knowledge who set a good example to be followed in seeking, learning and spreading the knowledge.

Source : Shaykh Wasiullaah al-Abbas while explaining Ad-Durrar Al-Bahiyyah, The Book of Purification